TOPIC: Percap and per ticket??

Hey guys, I've been reading, rereading, and rerereading the forums over the last few days... especially the FAQ section. A couple terms keep popping up, and, as a newbie, I was wondering if someone might take a moment to explain them to me.

I've heard the terms percap and per ticket thrown around by the vets (i.e. Mike, Large, Avalon, etc... no offense to the rest, these were just the names I saw the most... you're all vets, I'm sure). Is there a difference between these two terms? I hear percap referenced more with concession profit, but I want to make sure I have my terms straight before I continue.

By the way, I did a couple searches in search of an answer, but my larbor was fruitless. Still, I apologize if my question was already answered a long time ago in a post far, far away.

Per cap, per ticket, per head are the total of something (usually concession sales) divided by the number of exposures (tickets sold)... Unfortunately, it CAN also refer to the minimum amount (per ticket) that a distributor will accept for an engagement, regardless of the actual ticket price... If you have a booking with a $3 per cap vs. 60%, and you sell your tickets for $4, you would end up paying $3 (75% of your $4 ticket price) instead of the 2.40 (60% per ticket) the film actually earned at the $4 ticket price... Disney has threatened this in the past in order to force ticket prices (and grosses) higher...

But how do you figure a percap? Or a 90/10 percentage for that matter? If I were to guess, I'd say a percap is figured by the BOR, less the distribution percentage, less overhead, plus concession profits, divided by the monthly attendance. Am I way off base?

You're mixing too much stuff into the pie... The Boxoffice Report (ticket sales ONLY) is the source of your film cost (and per caps USUALLY do NOT apply)...

Example: 90/10 deal, 4 weeks with a 70, 60, 50, 40 floor > The per week % is figured against each week's boxoffice gross (ticket sales ONLY) vs. 90% of that amount LESS your house expense (nut)... Unless you have a real barn burner, the floor % will normally be higher than the NET % of 90, less your nut... This is ticket sales ONLY: they haven't yet been able to take part of your concession sales, but would like to...

Your per cap concession figure is just for your own information, to compare how you are doing from picture to picture, or against the industry average...

and your "per cap concession" is different than your "per cap admissions" as the 2nd averages seniors-kids-adults for a head count average. Then there is the total per cap: total Ticket $ sales + total concession $ = X divided by head count/warm bodies = total per cap (capitia is a person hence "per person") gross income. The reason they call it a per cap is that if you based it on a per person it would be a per per.
Michael Hurley
Impresario